Monday, February 27, 2012

Most grateful....

Can I just say I pretty much have some of the best friends ever?

You all have showered me with love, affection, and gifties.
I have bread pans flying in from all over, flower seeds being sent, some special love tokens shipped right to my door....
Each and every day I am overwhelmed with your kindness.
You have spoken words of encouragement that have truly meant the world to me.
Comment after comment of sister love.
Many have been with me since I began this blogging journey, nearly 7 years ago.
Some have only recently been stopping by.
Regardless....I am blessed.

I would never say this has been an easy journey..
Far from it.
If you could hear of some of the silly things I have cried over, I would be most embarrassed.
I most certainly am not suffering...not in the least.
And with friends like you all have been, I consider myself  a most blessed woman.
Thanks you all for sticking with me through this....

And now, on to some real life!


Campari tomatoes and garlic

I love Costco in the off seasons.
Though I do try to eat and buy as much local as possible, I can't help but buy these gorgeous and, might I say, tasty tomatoes throughout the winter.
Diced and tossed in a tabouli salad or a bowl of leafy greens...or sliced onto a homemade sourdough pizza...nothing says fresh like these tomatoes.




 My kitchen "island"

This kitchen is a tad on the small side, with not enough counter space.
Until something can be done about that, I am using my old bedside table as my island. Topped with one of my larger cutting boards, it is a fine stand-in until we can figure something else out. 
I would love one that is just a couple feet longer....
Perhaps we can build something this spring.


 Inside my "island"

I have a few plastic bins holding some essential kitchen things.
The top left basket holds all my measuring cups and measuring spoons. The one next to that is currently holding the very last of the shallots from this past years CSA. 
Next to that is the bag of new red potatoes.

Below, on the bottom shelf, is a basket with odds and ends....
Mostly kitchen gadgets that are too clunky for the drawers, like the box grater and the metal hand juicer.
Some organic onions are on the right.

When we do find another island, I will need to make sure it has storage space underneath....
I am a kitchen gadget freak.

 Uh...Fuzzy.
He does NOT belong up there.


 Sweet "F" canister

I am pretty sure the "F" stands for flour, but in my house it stands for "coffee"
I keep my coffee separate from Pete's cause he likes the stuff that you can stand your spoon up in.
S.T.R.O.N.G.
And I like what he sarcastically refers to as "Breakfast Blah"
Don't judge me...I am what I am.

"Fig & Honey"

My newest soap fragrance, ready to be cut into bars.
Pete has to cut my soap.
If I cut it, the bars would be just the right thickness on the top, and narrow down to pretty much nothing at the bottom.
It's a curse, I know.
You should see how I slice my bread.
Pretty much the same way...
I like to just call it "rustic", and let it go at that.


  Beau...waiting out the blizzard.

Yeah....we pretty much had a mini blizzard here last week.
Kind of a shock to our systems, as our Michigan winter has been anything but a Michigan winter.
Temps have averaged in the mid 40's....the 2nd warmest winter on record, so far.

Does everything look just a bit yucky where you live?
I know spring is just around the corner, and though I love spring, the beginning of it is just dirty/messy.
Mud all over the place, ruts in the roads, with only a promise of green loveliness to come.
I wait impatiently....

In Christ alone,
Cindy

PS...here is a peek at the new Farm Fresh blog I am starting.
It will be a blog where my homemade goodies are featured for sale.
Bar soaps, Laundry soaps, etc.
All under one blog roof, so to speak.
Hoping to have it up and running in the next few weeks.

 

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Monday, February 20, 2012

Continuing the journey...with fresh paths

I LOVE this blog post title...

Continuing the journey...with fresh paths.

Starting over...
It can be a bad thing.
Or it can be a good thing.
I choose to call it "good".






Clothes hung out on a winters day this week!

We have finally moved into our new "home".
Sorry...I have to get used to calling it that....




My "stuff" getting put in all new places....

It was really....really hard at first.
But then, the more I was able to put my things, my chotchkies, my "junk" in spaces and places, the more I was able to take deep breaths and realize...
OK...this may not be my old home, but it was home, none-the-less.

No one had died.
No one was sick.
We had plenty of food, clothing, and now shelter.
It is, by far, more than most people in this world have.
And I am thankful.
Sheesh...did I just say that???



More "stuff"

Thankfully, we were able to keep most of our furniture, tho there are things we just could not/did not take that still makes me cry.

Imagine having to go to WalMart and replacing brooms, dustpans, mops, buckets, clothespins, drapery rods....
Cost us over $200 to replace what was lost.
$200 we did not really have.

And that doesn't include things like my sewing table, bookcases (ooh, I miss my bookcases!), etc.
Bread pans went missing, as well as jelly roll pans, and the brand spankin' new Chicago Metallic french bread pans I just got for my birthday.
Where, oh where art thou, bread pans????
(My dear friend Deby is sending me a special delivery of new glass bread pans and a french bread pan!!!)
I can not wait!
But there is a flea market every Thursday starting in the spring thru fall,  just down the road 4 miles, so I am looking to find some cast-offs there.

And I still can't find my iron.
yeah....found the ironing board, but no iron:(



Barkcloth curtains and vintage lamp....

U.G.L.Y. paneled walls...I know.
Perhaps the landlady will be willing to let us paint in the spring?




 View from my kitchen sink...southern exposure!

Somewhere out there will be an herb garden and a veggie garden.
Not too big, not too small...
Just right for two of us.
But lots of tomato plants!
Can one ever have too many tomatoes?
I think not!!!

The land here (1 acre) is barren....not a shrub, bush, or perennial in sight.
We have 2 smallish wild cherry trees in the front (northern exposure) and we have our bird feeders directly in front of them, right near our dinette window.
We are delighting in identifying new birds nearly every day.
Nuthatches, Goldfinch, Junco's, Chickadees, Titmice, Downy peckers, Red headed peckers, Cardinals, Jays, and doves....so far!

I am hoping/praying that friends who are near enough will share some of their perennials when it comes time to divide them in the spring.
I would love some ornamental perennial grasses in the front along the front of the trailer, and some lavender, peonies,.....
shoot, let's face it....I'll take just about anything for a bit of color here!
And if finances permit, annuals are a great fill-in till the perennials take hold.

I think the hardest season to come will be spring.
Just remembering the gardens and herbs that are no longer mine....
The joy I took in working the ground in the spring with all the new growth popping up.
The special flowers and plants given to me over the years by my children and dear friends.
(Mothers Day and birthdays were always gifts of live plants...it's what I asked for!)
I remember my sweetie Parisienne Farmgirl Ang digging up Lilies of the Valley in the rain one chilly, rainy autumn day for my northern exposure front porch. And my dear, dear friend Savvy City Farmer Joy, passing along bits and bobs of plants she was dividing special for me.
Now I start over......

NOTE TO SELF:
Re-read the very beginning of this post about being thankful.....
Sheesh....I am a slow learner.

In Christ alone,
Cindy

PS....for right now, I am blogging on my laptop from the local library. Hoping to have internet in the next week...bah....country living.
Oh yeah, right...it's the life for me!
Oh, yeah...I will be advertising my "Farm Fresh" soaps in the premiere issue of Parisienne Farmgirl's new online magazine! I am so excited to be able to open up new avenues for my tiny soap business. I am hoping and praying I will be able to add some healing teas and salves in the early spring. Look for more info as soon as I get internet...Ang's magazine will be something really, really special!







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